When I first saw the video “The Story of Stuff“, I was thinking how could I write a story to incorporate it into my site.  The answer is easy.  It affects everyone, not just Puerto Rico.  I hope that it is a video that you don’t just watch, but you listen to.

It’s a quick eye opening video that doesn’t even last 25 min.  Check it out.

Puerto Ricans have a very different way of communicating than the average American. They have their own cultural sign language. When I moved to Puerto Rico, it took me a little while to figure out the foreign body language. I was actually quite lost and had no idea what was going on.

So here is a translation if you plan on moving to or visiting Puerto Rico. It should help you out.

If they have a question about something you said or if they didn’t hear you very well they will crinkle their nose. It almost looks the same as when someone smells something that they don’t like. This is an important one to know because they will keep on wrinkling their nose at you until they get an answer. If you don’t understand this sign, you will just sit their looking like an idiot. On the flip side, it is pretty humorous to see someone wrinkling their nose over and over until they realize you have no idea what is going on.

Instead of pointing with their fingers they do it with their lips. You will usually see this when you ask someone where something is. Instead of saying it’s over there, they just point with their lips. I have also noticed the lip pointing when you walk up to a group of people. If someone wants to speak to just one person, they will point their lips at them. It looks like someone is puckering up for a kiss, except it is done quickly, probably less than a second.

I have also seen (twice) when someone gets angry while driving, they will throw one hand in the air. Both times the person’s window was down. The driver’s arm was already out of the window and they threw the arm up into the air very quickly. I have asked some of the locals here. They said it was an insulting gesture. I assume it is like giving someone the finger.

Greeting someone of the opposite sex in Puerto Rico can be pretty different if you are good friends or even just casual acquaintances. My experiences have shown me Puerto Ricans are much more affectionate when it comes to friendship. Once you are friends, it is very common to walk up during a greeting and kiss the opposite sex on the cheek. The greeting is also acceptable for two women. Thankfully for two men it is the standard handshake.

The man will usually give the first kiss on the cheek to show that they consider the female a friend. Even after a few years of living here, I have never initiated the greeting. It is understood that since I am a gringo, that I am not accustomed to the ritual and the female will usually initiate the kiss. Once the kiss has taken place, it will become pretty much the natural form of greeting with that person.

When I first started my new position, I was shocked to see all of the kissing and hugging. This kind of behavior in the States would be considered sexual harassment. It is still pretty strange when greeting a female Puerto Rican style. I have been taught pretty much from day 1 of my life to never touch a girl especially in the workplace. And here I am giving a kiss on a third or even 4^th encounter. Who would have thought that would ever happen?

On my way to work yesterday, I had to stop at two gas stations to fill up my car. I first stopped at the closest Shell station. I usually try not to use this gas station because they rarely accept my American cards and have bad customer service, but today I had cash handy so I figured I would give them another chance.

I walked up to the glass door to find that it was locked. There were two cashiers and one customer inside. I waited for the customer to leave so I could enter. As the customer walked out, a cashier followed him. The door opened, customer left, I start to enter, and while speaking in Spanish the cashier starts raising his voice as he raises his hand for me to stop. So I stop and he proceeds to lock the door.

He then points me over to a drop box (where they do transactions at night so they can’t get robbed). I followed his lead and he told me to stop again with his hands. I did and looked at my watch; it was 6:05am. I stood there. A line starts to build behind me. At about 6:10am a man in the line starts to yell some obscenities, I don’t know if the cashiers could hear him through the thick glass because they never acknowledged him. At 6:16am they both got on their cell phones and I left.

I went up the street to JJ’s gas station. I also try to avoid this station because the lines can be long. Today either time or luck was on my side because I just walked in, handed the cashier a $20, told her the pump, walked to my car to pump the gas, and drove to work. On the bright side of all of this, JJ’s was something like $.04 cheaper per liter which did minimize my frustration by a fraction.

I am helping my girlfriend build a blog about cooking. She is Puerto Rican so if you’re interested in seeing her Puerto Rican influence on cooking you might want to stop by her site Kitchen Anecdotes. Hopefully I can get her to write some guest posts and have some Puerto Rican recipes.

All I am going to be doing is all of the technical aspects for setting up the site. At least until I can teach her how to do it.  She will be writing her articles.  Sorry, I don’t know how to cook, I can barely make a PB&J :)

So I will be busy building both sites at the same time. You will probably notice some of the same features etc.

When you travel here on your vacation, you do not need to bring your US Passport (if you are a US citizen). When you go back home, the same goes for leaving the island, no passport is needed. The only proof of identity that should be required is your driver’s license or similar ID. This is because Puerto Rico is a territory of the United States.